1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure is related to the field of medical devices, specifically, receptacles for suction devices used in medical procedures.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most widely-used tools of the medical profession is a suction device. These devices commonly are used to clear airways of blood, saliva, vomit, and other secretions to improve breathing and pulmonary hygiene. Suction devices also commonly are used as surgical vacuums. In surgery, the patient tends to secrete blood and other biologically active fluids, which can be hazardous to the patient, physician, and attending staff, and inhibit the physician's view of the surgical field.
One of the most commonly used suction devices is a handheld surgical vacuum. These devices generally comprise a handle (203) and an elongated, narrow wand (207), generally with a bend (205) for precise manipulation in the surgical field. Embodiments of such devices are depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3. The distal end (217) of the wand (207) has an opening for accepting biological matter. Suction usually is provided by a pump, and the device (201) is operated by the physician via a triggering mechanism, such as a lever or button on the handle (203) which turns the suction action on or off. Biological material is drawn into the open distal end (217) of the wand (207) and then deposited and isolated in a suitable storage container. Such containers may be directly attached to the device (201), or attached via tubing (219).
These suction devices are not without their flaws. For one, when the physician has finished using the device, the device must be stored in a safe, sterile location within reach of the physician, who often cannot safely remove his attention from the surgical field. Further, when the suction action is discontinued there may be biological matter which was drawn into the tube when the suction action was active, but which did not travel to the storage container before the physician discontinued the suction action. This material tends to collect in the wand and/or tubing unless, when the device is not in use, it is oriented with the open end facing downward so that gravity can pull out stray material. If the device is not properly oriented, this stray matter will tend to drain into the surgical field when the device next is used, risking contamination and infection to the patient, and further obscuring the physician's view.
However, if the device is placed in a manner which allows this drainage, the stray material simply accumulates on the floor of the operating room, or on another surface, contaminating the operating environment and presenting a slipping hazard. A storage container may be placed under the device to collect the leaked material, but as the material accumulates in the container over the course of a surgery, particularly a lengthy surgery, the level of the material in the container may become high enough that the material comes into contact with the tip of the suction device when the device is not in use. This also presents a risk of infection and contamination when the device is reinserted into the patient.
Further, in the sometimes fast-paced environment of an operating room, the container may be upended or dislodged, causing the collected material to discharge onto the environment, again contaminating the operating room and presenting a slipping hazard. These risks are further exacerbated where hospital staff forget to clean or replace the container, resulting in contamination of a sanitized device before surgery even begins.
Also, due to the shape and configuration of the suction device and the location of the controls on the handle, the device generally must be oriented in a specific position in order for the physician to use it properly. If the device is not properly oriented when the physician picks it up, then the physician must pause to reorient the device in-hand before using it. As often happens in surgery, the physician only has one hand available to perform this task because the other hand is in contact with the patient or is holding another device, and cannot safely be removed. The physician may attempt to reorient the device in his hand, but this is a delicate maneuver that itself poses a risk that the physician may drop the device, potentially contaminating the device environment, or other sterilized medical devices. In the fast-paced environment of a surgical procedure, particularly an emergency surgical procedure, the physician simply does not have time to reorient the handle of the suction device.
Further, the physician often may not safely look away from the patient without posing a risk to the patient. While this is sometimes solved by having attending staff pick up and orient the device for the physician, this still takes time and requires a manual transfer of the device from the nurse to the physician, which also poses a risk of droppage. The extra time required for the hand-off or re-orientation can take up precious seconds that the patient simply cannot spare, all while secretions continue to accumulate in the surgical field, further obscuring the physician's vision and posing a risk of infection to the patient.
Existing receptacles for suction devices suffer a number of deficiencies. First, many are “sided,” meaning the suction device can only be inserted into the receptacle if placed in a particular manner to accommodate a right- or left-handed physician. This often means that when staff prepare the operating room, they select a receptacle with the wrong sidedness for the physician, which then must be discarded or re-sterilized, resulting in waste. However, universal receptacles—those without a built-in sidedness—do not automatically orient the suction device for comfortable grasping. Finally, receptacles generally require the physician to insert the suction device into the receptacle at a certain angle. This does not allow the physician to quickly drop the device into the receptacle without looking and still have the device properly oriented when the physician next uses it, but rather forces the physician to orient the device at the time of placement. This only exacerbates the foregoing problem that the physician often should not, or cannot, divert his attention from the surgical field.